‘Education is life itself’

As a parent, I’ve often become confused with how to navigate the resources available in the educational system in my community. I myself have learning differences, and as my children have reached school age, I’ve noticed that their learning differences shape how each one views school and the learning environment.

A few years ago, I found myself in my mid-thirties facing a crossroads in my career path and also my home life. Technological advances have changed journalism quite a bit, and a few years ago, I found myself questioning my role as a copy editor at The Spectrum and what the newsroom of the future would look like.

At the same time, I found myself puzzled by questions my wife and I had on how to find the resources in the educational system that my children would need to not only survive but thrive.

Maybe I hit my mid-life crisis a little early, or maybe I was just looking for answers, but as I took on the role as a night and weekend copy editor at The Spectrum, I also went searching for answers to my other questions during the day, enrolling in some teacher education courses at Southern Utah University.

Then I started putting the pieces together. I started to discover why one of my children dodges homework assignments that appear too difficult. I started to discover why another child feels isolated because of special needs during the teenage years. Most of all I started to understand those same feelings and traits that I could identify with inside myself and started to challenge them and come to grips with them.

Some of the things I’ve learned in my exploration of the public education system include the following:

I’ve learned to embrace the types of books my children read. Maybe I have a bias that they should be reading the classics, or what I see in my mind as the classics. However, if I let them choose the books that interest them, I won’t be as likely to drain the love of reading from them.

I’ve taken courses learning about teaching English Language Learners and also about dual immersion instruction. The ideas and theories on how we acquire languages and learn new ones are astounding.

I’ve learned that the mind is incredibly pliable and an amazing piece of biological engineering, and young children’s, older children’s and teenagers’ brains and their ability to solve problems are far more powerful than we often give them credit for most of the time.

I especially learned this by volunteering in classrooms in university-linked service programs. I watched kindergarteners and third grades come up with solutions to problems in the classroom and on the playground that I hadn’t thought of before, or had forgotten because my adult mind had pushed the solution out of my mind.

I’ve learned that mathematics isn’t something to be feared if we take time understand it better and realize the doors of opportunity we can open up.

I’ve learned that the arts and sciences don’t have to compete with each other. The great thinkers and creators of this world such as Leonard da Vinci or Steve Jobs didn’t dwell in just one intellectual area.

The educational leader and philosopher John Dewey said:

“Education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.”

So I borrow this philosophy for this blog and the other education journalism projects I work on as part of the education community in Southern Utah.

Join me as I help connect teachers, professors, other education experts and the amazing stories brought to us by other education writers at Spectrum Media. Our mission is to help parents and other concerned members of community understand the issues and connect with research and practices that work for our students in Southern Utah.